Yan stood at the cafeteria entrance, still clutching half a steamed bun as he watched them leave.
Xie Yue came up behind him and leaned against a pillar.
"Tell me," Yan said suddenly, "what level do you think Xiao Ran will be when he gets back?"
Xie Yue gazed into the morning mist. A silver-white blade flashed at his fingertips.
"No idea," he said. "But definitely above fifty."
Sunset Forest lay three hundred miles northwest of Spirit Hall as the crow flies. Ghost Douluo did not move quickly, but each step carried him several yards. Xiao Ran and Hu Liena had to circulate their Soul Power at full strength to keep up.
"Senior," Xiao Ran asked during a lull, "do you know what kind of Soul Beast I should hunt?"
Ghost Douluo did not look back. The wind scattered his voice. "What do you want to hunt?"
"Light Attribute or Mental Attribute," Xiao Ran said. "Ideally, both."
Ghost Douluo fell silent for a while. His cane left a trail of evenly spaced holes in the dirt. At last, he said, "There's a Soul Beast called the Flash Shadow Light Beast in the northern foothills of Sunset Forest. It's around fifty thousand years old, primarily Light Attribute, with a Mental Interference ability. Its Soul Ring should suit your Martial Soul."
Xiao Ran's heart stirred. He had seen the Flash Shadow Light Beast in Spirit Hall's Soul Beast Compendium. Known for its speed, it could teleport short distances and unleash light-based mental attacks. If his fifth Soul Skill inherited both traits, his combat strength would leap to a whole new level.
"But there's a problem," Ghost Douluo continued. "The Flash Shadow Light Beast is extremely hard to pin down. If it decides to flee, no one below level ninety-five can stop it."
Hu Liena spoke up. "So you mean we'll have to set a trap?"
Ghost Douluo finally glanced back at her, a faint smile creasing his gaunt face. "Quick on the uptake, little girl. Yes, a trap. We can't catch it by chasing it head-on. We have to wait for it to come to us."
The three continued on, reaching the outskirts of Sunset Forest near noon. The trees suddenly grew taller, their layered crowns blocking most of the sky. Only stray shafts of sunlight slipped through, scattering patches of light across the ground. The air smelled of rotting leaves and damp earth, and the low growl of an unknown Soul Beast sounded in the distance.
Ghost Douluo slowed. His cane no longer touched the ground but hovered half an inch beside him. His eyes narrowed, and his gray-white robe stirred without a breeze.
"From here on, keep quiet," he said in a low voice. "There's little danger on the outskirts, but if we disturb something deeper in the forest, we'll have trouble we don't need."
Xiao Ran and Hu Liena suppressed their auras at once. Hu Liena's fox tail hung naturally behind her, while her ears turned slightly, catching sounds from all around. Her mental senses were keen by nature. Now they spread like invisible tendrils, detecting the surrounding fluctuations of Soul Power.
After about two hours, the light had dimmed further. Ghost Douluo stopped beside a boulder and drew a circle on the ground with his cane.
"We'll camp here tonight," he said. "Tomorrow, we enter the northern foothills."
Xiao Ran set down his pack and was about to speak when Hu Liena suddenly gripped his arm. Her foxlike eyes fixed on the dense woods to the east, her ears standing straight up.
"Something's there," she said through clenched teeth.
Ghost Douluo tapped his cane lightly against the ground. An invisible pressure spread outward at once. Rustling came from deep among the trees, as though something enormous were retreating. A few breaths later, the sense of danger vanished.
"A Shadow Python, around sixty thousand years old," Ghost Douluo said flatly. "It sensed my aura and backed off. I'll keep watch tonight. You two sleep."
Xiao Ran did not argue. He sat against the boulder, held the Ultraman Tiga card in his palm, and closed his eyes to circulate his Soul Power. The barrier at level forty-nine felt like a thin shell. Each surge of Soul Power rebounded from it, but fine cracks had already spread across its surface.
Hu Liena sat opposite him without sleeping. She took a palm-sized jade box from her pack. Inside lay a pale purple herb, its leaves coated in fine white down and giving off a faint glow in the dark.
Illusion Fox Grass.
She handed it to him. "Chew it up and swallow it. For the next half hour, your mental power will be highly active. Use it to help your Soul Power break through the barrier, and the effect will be twice as strong."
Xiao Ran took the herb and immediately chewed it. Its juice was bitter, with a cool, biting sting as it ran down his throat. Moments later, something seemed to stir his mind violently. Everything around him sharpened—the veins in the leaves, insects chirping beneath the soil, the faint sound of Hu Liena breathing. Every detail flooded into his mind, magnified several times over.
"Focus," Hu Liena said, her voice seeming to drift from far away.
Xiao Ran steadied his mind and gathered all his mental power into a single force, driving his Soul Power against the barrier. Once, twice, three times—the cracks in the shell widened. On the fourth attempt, he heard something break.
His Soul Power surged, rushing through his meridians. Silver-blue light spilled uncontrollably from his body, illuminating the entire campsite. Ghost Douluo sat in the distance and nodded slightly, without interfering.
Xiao Ran opened his eyes. Silver-blue patterns flashed briefly in his pupils. He looked down at his hand and gathered a ball of light-flame in his palm, more than twice as bright as before.
Level fifty.
He had broken through.
Hu Liena breathed a sigh of relief, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. But it did not last. Ghost Douluo suddenly stood, and the blue-green gem atop his cane blazed with dazzling light.
"Breaking through is a good thing," Ghost Douluo said, his voice turning grave. "But that burst of Soul Power you just released could be sensed for ten miles."
Xiao Ran rose and drew in his Soul Power.
Ghost Douluo looked toward the northern foothills, the light in his eyes growing brighter. "It's coming."
Deep in the woods, a streak of silver-white light raced toward them at astonishing speed. Wherever it passed, trees split soundlessly down the middle, their cuts smooth as mirrors.
The Flash Shadow Light Beast.
It was larger than Xiao Ran had expected, with a long, leopardlike body covered in silver-white scales. Light streamed beneath its four hooves, and every step carried it dozens of yards in an instant. Most striking were its eyes—two swirling vortices of light that sent out waves of mental force. Even Hu Liena could not help frowning.
"Level fifty against fifty thousand years." Ghost Douluo stepped back and planted his cane on the ground. "Little girl, move aside. Xiao Ran, you're up."
Xiao Ran drew a deep breath. Silver-blue patterns spread from the back of his hand up his entire right arm. He charged straight at the silver-white streak.
Light met light deep within Sunset Forest.
Before you continue